Posted on 11/25/2011 11:29:17 AM PST by nickcarraway
A Casper-based attorney faces up to six months in jail on criminal contempt of court charges after calling Carbon County Circuit Court Judge Jane Eakin a witch in a court document.
Richard Szekely, an attorney who formerly practiced in Laramie and is now based in Casper, also faces a fine up to $10,000 if convicted of the misdemeanor offense.
A not guilty plea was entered in the court on May 23.
Szekely filed an order Feb. 23 to change the time of a careless driving hearing for a client. In the document’s signature area, it stated “Honorable Jane Eakin Circuit Court Witch.”
On March 21, Szekely filed a motion in the careless driving case for Eakin to recuse herself because he said Eakin has a bias against him, partially because of the “witch” incident.
In the motion, Szekely said the term was included in the document because he was under strain to handle the circuit court case and a federal court case in Cheyenne, which were initially scheduled for the same day.
“Under the strain of trying to meet the court’s deadline, I, Richard Szekely, drafted an Order in two versions mistakenly mailed the draft order which used a term in the signature line for the court that was never intended to be presented,” the motion to recuse Eakin stated.
Eakin eventually assigned the case to another judge.
Szekely’s attorney, Laramie-based Joe Hageman, has entered a motion to dismiss the contempt case, stating Szekely’s actions don’t meet the requirement of criminal contempt of court since he did not willfully or intentionally submit the order with the “witch” term on it. The state, represented by Carbon County Attorney Cal Rerucha and deputy attorney Ashley Mayfield state Szekely’s actions were “disorderly, contemptuous and insolent,” and therefore meet the threshold for criminal punishment.
Sublette County Circuit Court Judge Curt Haws has been assigned the case and is likely to rule on the motion to dismiss in the next few weeks.
The case was delayed because Szekely was injured in a motorcycle crash July 16. On Oct. 31, Hageman filed a letter stating Szekely is competent to proceed with the case.
The contempt case file was unsealed from the public after Haws ordered files from the Wyoming State Bar be sealed.
It is unknown whether Szekely was sanctioned by the Bar, but in the legal discipline section of the June 2011 issue of Wyoming Lawyer, the Bar’s publication, it states, “The Board of Professional Responsibility issued a private reprimand to an attorney (for mailing) ... an order that contained the words ‘Circuit Court Witch.’”
Eakin had previously found Szekely to be in contempt of court, though a criminal case was never brought. In March 2010 she cited him for taking too long to return to the courthouse during a hearing and fined him $100. He appealed, stating the prosecutor in the case showed up later than him and was not admonished. In September 2010, District Court Judge Wade Waldrip reversed Eakin’s citation.
There ain’t no free speech in court.
That’s what you get for not proof-reading what you’ve written one last time before you stick it in the envelope.
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